Pallets formed of various materials are widely used in industries ranging from food processing to pharmaceutical manufacturers so that various inventory may be readily and efficiently stored. In the process of forming pallets, pallet stock is created by multiple head band saws. Specifically, multiple head band saws process the raw material or workpiece commonly referred to as the cant into multiple vertically stacked planks which are subsequently used to form pallets. More specifically, multi-headed band saws include two or more band saws. The band saws are spaced apart along the direction of travel of the workpiece or cant. The band saws are also oriented at different heights thereby creating multiple, vertically stacked planks once the workpiece has traveled through the multiple headed band saws. It is known to have as many as five saw blades in a multiple head band saw which in turn will create six vertically stacked planks subsequently used in the formation of pallets. While processing the cant or workpiece into multiple, vertically stacked planks, sawdust is created between the confronting faces of adjacent planks. In fact, the sawdust can become somewhat adhered to the confronting faces of adjacent planks during the formation process. Where the multiple headed band saw has five (5) saw blades the sawdust created in processing the cant is considerable due to the fact that five separate cuts are made. The sawdust built up between adjacent planks is extremely undesirable and creates significant problems for various industries employing pallets to store inventory. Specifically, significant amounts of the sawdust residue will remain on the planks even after they have been processed to form pallets. As the pallets are used for storing inventory in the particular industries (e.g., food processing and pharmaceutical manufacturers) the sawdust residue will dislodge from the pallets soiling the surrounding environment or the inventory stored thereon. It will be readily appreciated that it is extremely disadvantageous in virtually every industry to have either the surrounding environment or the inventory soiled with sawdust residue.
One attempt at alleviating the sawdust residue in pallet stock has employed a brushing device in conjunction with multiple head band saws. The brushing device operates on each of the planks to remove the sawdust residue. However, such a device is relatively expensive. Further, previously employed brushing devices cannot keep pace with the multiple head band saws thus considerably slowing down the process of generating pallet stock.